It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Cifrão. (Discuss)

The dollar sign or peso sign ($) is a symbol primarily used to indicate a unit of currency.

History

The sign is attested in business correspondence between British North America and Mexico in the 1770s, as referring to the Spanish-Mexican peso.^[1] The piastre was known as "Spanish dollar" in British North America, and in 1785, it was adopted as U.S. currency, together with both the term "dollar" and the $ sign. Interestingly, the first instance of the symbol on U.S.A. currency is on the reverse of a $1 coin first issued in February 2007, under the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005.^[2] In economics, a business (also called firm or enterprise) is a legally recognized organizational entity designed to provide goods and/or services to consumers or corporate entities such as governments, charities or other businesses. ... British North America consisted of the loyalist colonies and territories (i. ... Events and Trends For more events, see 18th century United States Declaration of Independence ratified by the Continental Congress (July 4, 1776). ... The peso is a unit of currency. ... A 100 piastre note from French Indochina, circa 1954. ... The Spanish dollar or peso (literally, weight) is a silver coin that was minted in the Spanish Empire after a Spanish currency reform in 1497. ... North American redirects here. ... 1785 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about the type of currency, for the U.S. Dollar see United States dollar. ... For other uses, see United States (disambiguation) and US (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see February (disambiguation). ... The Presidential $1 Coin Program (Public Law 109-145; 119 Stat. ...

The sign's ultimate origins are not certain,^[3] though it is widely accepted that it comes from the Spanish coat of arms, which carries the two Pillars of Hercules and the motto Plus Ultra in the shape of an "S". Coat of Arms of Spain (Official model) The current Coat of arms of Spain was approved by law [1] in 1981, when the present established replaced the interim version which, in turn, replaced the official arms of Francoist Spain. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Motto (disambiguation). ...

Spanish Coat of Arms

The Pillars of Hercules with "S"-shaped ribbon in the Town Hall of Seville, (Spain) (16th century)

The most widely accepted explanation is that the dollar sign derives from the Spanish coat of arms engraved on the Spanish colonial silver coins "Real de a Ocho" ("piece of eight") or Spanish dollar under circulation in the Spanish colonies of America and Asia, as well as in the English Thirteen Colonies and later the U.S. and Canada. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 567 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1053 × 1113 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 567 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1053 × 1113 pixel, file size: 2. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Seville (disambiguation). ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... The Spanish dollar or peso (literally, weight) is a silver coin that was minted in the Spanish Empire after a Spanish currency reform in 1497. ... For other uses, see Asia (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see United States (disambiguation) and US (disambiguation). ...

The Spanish coat of arms has two columns (||), which represent the Pillars of Hercules and an "S"-shaped ribbon around each, with the motto "Non Plus Ultra" originally, and later "Plus Ultra".^[4] This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

In 1492, King Ferdinand II of Aragon put Gibraltar under the new joined rule of the Spanish throne. He adopted the symbol of the Pillars of Hercules and added the Latin phrase Non plus ultra – meaning "and nothing further", indicating "[this is] the end of the (known) world". But as Christopher Columbus in 1492 travelled to the Americas, the saying was changed to Plus Ultra – as there was more out there.^[5] This symbol was especially adopted by Charles V and was a part of his coat of arms as a symbol of his American possessions and riches. When the Spanish conquistadores found gold and silver in the New World, Charles V's symbol was stamped on the coins made from these metals. These coins with the Pillars of Hercules over two hemispheres (columnarios) were spread around America and Europe, and the symbol was ultimately adopted by the country that became the United States and by many of the continent's other independent nations. Later on, salesmen wrote signs that, instead of saying dollar, had this handwritten symbol, and in turn this developed to the simple S with two vertical bars. Also film, 1492: Conquest of Paradise. ... Look up king in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Ferdinand V of Castile & II of Aragon the Catholic (Spanish: , Catalan: , Aragonese: ; March 10, 1452 – January 23, 1516) was king of Aragon (1479–1516), Castile, Sicily (1468–1516), Naples (1504–1516), Valencia, Sardinia and Navarre and Count of Barcelona. ... The thrones for The Queen of Canada, and the Duke of Edinburgh (back) in the Canadian Senate, Ottawa are usually occupied by the Governor General and his/her spouse at the annual State Opening of Parliament. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This page lists direct English translations of common Latin phrases, such as veni vidi vici and et cetera. ... Christopher Columbus (1451 – May 20, 1506) was a navigator, colonizer, and explorer and one of the first Europeans to explore the Americas after the Vikings. ... Also film, 1492: Conquest of Paradise. ... World map showing the Americas The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere historically considered to consist of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. ... Coat of Arms of Spain Plus Ultra (Latin for further beyond, more beyond or yet beyond) is the national motto of Spain and a number of other institutions including Jurong Junior College in Singapore,Malden Catholic High School in Massachusetts, Newstead Girls College, the oldest existing public school in Sri... For the Carlist claimant King Carlos V, see Infante Carlos, Count of Molina. ... A modern coat of arms is derived from the medi val practice of painting designs onto the shield and outer clothing of knights to enable them to be identified in battle, and later in tournaments. ... A Conquistador (Spanish: []) (English: Conqueror) was a Spanish soldier, explorer and adventurer who took part in the gradual invasion and conquering of much of the Americas and Asia Pacific, bringing them under Spanish colonial rule between the 15th and 19th centuries. ... Frontispiece of Peter Martyr dAnghieras De orbe novo (On the New World). Carte dAmérique, Guillaume Delisle, 1722. ... This article is about monetary coins. ... For other uses, see Sphere (disambiguation). ... Columnarios are silver coins that were minted by Spain from 1732 to 1773 throughout their new colonies in present-day Latin America. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... Animated, colour-coded map showing the various continents. ... Penmanship is the art of writing clearly and quickly. ...

The Pillars of Hercules around the modern coat of arms of Spain.

There is also another explanation that makes the sign derive from where "$" is a corruption of the letters "PS" or P^S, used as an abbreviation for pesos.^[6][7] Image File history File links Escudo_de_España. ... Image File history File links Escudo_de_España. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The peso is a unit of currency. ...

Alternative origin hypotheses

This section does not cite any references or sources. (August 2007) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

There are a number of alternative origin theories, with several degrees of verifiability and academic acceptance.

From 'US'

That $ is a monogram of U and S (United States AKA Uncle Sam), which was used as a mark on money bags issued by the United States Mint. The letters U and S superimposed resemble the historical double stroke "$" sign: the bottom of the 'U' disappears into the bottom curve of the 'S', leaving two vertical lines. This double-stroke dollar sign has been used to refer to the U.S. currency. Thus, the one-stroke design may have been modified from the double-stroke design to represent United States currency. This idea was largely popularized by the novel Atlas Shrugged by philosopher Ayn Rand^{[citation needed]}. It does not consider the fact that the symbol was already in use in the time of the British Colonies, when the term 'United States' did not exist yet. The Chi-Rho, a monogram of the first two letters in the Greek word for Christ E and L embroider for clothes and bedding, for a wife by the initials E L or L E A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or... This article is about the national personification of the USA. For other uses, see Uncle Sam (disambiguation). ... Seal of the U.S. Mint Denver United States mint building The United States Mint primarily produces circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce. ... For the film, see Atlas Shrugged (film). ... Ayn Rand (IPA: , February 2 [O.S. January 20] 1905 – March 6, 1982), born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum (Russian: ), was a Russian-born American novelist and philosopher. ...

From a symbol used on the Roman sestertius

That the dollar sign goes back to the most important Roman coin, the Sestertius, which had the letters 'HS' as its currency sign. When superimposed, these letters form a dollar sign with two vertical strokes (the horizontal line of the 'H' merging into the 'S'). This explanation is widely discarded, in spite of the tendency of neo-classic Roman Republic influences in styles evident in other early US government designs, such as the Capitol and Senate buildings. The sestertius was an ancient Roman coin. ... This article is about the state which existed from the 6th century BC to the 1st century BC. For the state which existed in the 18th century, see Roman Republic (18th century). ... The United States Capitol is the capitol building that serves as the seat of government for the United States Congress, the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government. ... Type Upper House President of the Senate Richard B. Cheney, R since January 20, 2001 President pro tempore Robert C. Byrd, D since January 4, 2007 Members 100 Political groups Democratic Party Republican Party Last elections November 7, 2006 Meeting place Senate Chamber United States Capitol Washington, DC United States...

The two pillars in the temple of Solomon

That the two vertical lines represent the two cult pillars Boaz and Jachin in the original Temple of Solomon at Jerusalem. This is based on the idea that Masonic symbols, such as the All Seeing Eye of God, appear on U.S. currency; however, they did not in 1785. Boaz and Jachin were the name of the two pillars that stood on the eastern porch of Solomons Temple, the first temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 7:21; 2 Kings 11:14; 23:3). ... Solomons Temple was the first Jewish temple in Jerusalem which functioned as a religious focal point for worship and the sacrifices known as the korbanot in ancient Judaism. ... Freemasons redirects here. ... The Eye of Providence floating above an unfinished pyramid on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States. ...

From a sign used on the German Thaler

That it derives from the symbol used on a German Thaler. According to Ovason (2004), on one type of thaler, one side showed the crucified Christ, and the other side showed a serpent hanging from a cross, and near the serpent's head the letters NU, and on the other side of the cross the number 21. This refers to the Bible, Numbers, chapter 21 (see Nehushtan). Examples of German and Austrian Thalers compared to a US quarter piece (bottom center) The Thaler (or Taler) was a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. ... Icon of Christ in a Greek Orthodox church This page is about the title, office or what is known in Christian theology as the Divine Person. ... For other uses, see Snake (disambiguation). ... Also known as the Latin cross or crux ordinaria. ... For other uses, see Bible (disambiguation). ... Moses lifts up the brass snake, curing the Isrealites from Snake Bites. ...

Unit of Silver

The dollar symbol was in use in colonial times before the American Revolution. Prices were often quoted in units of silver, as the Spanish "piece of eight" was in common use for payment of goods and services. When a price was quoted the capital 'S' was used to indicate silver with a capital 'U' written on top to indicate units. Eventually, the capital 'U' was replaced by double vertical hash marks.

Other theories

Another possibility is that it derives from the British notation 8/ for eight shillings, referring to the Spanish 8 reales coin ("piece of eight"), which later became the USA dollar. Others derive it from the Portuguese Cifrão sign .^[8] This article is about coinage. ... The Spanish dollar or peso (literally, heavy, or pound) is a silver coin which was minted in Spain after a Spanish currency reform in 1497. ... Cifrão on 2. ...

Image of 1768 Spanish Colonial Real silver coin, showing PTSI ($) mint mark in lower right quadrant. It also shows the columns around the hemispheres (this time displayed one at the side of the other).

A common explanation is that the symbol is derived from the numeral eight with a slash through it denoting "pieces of eight". The Oxford English Dictionary prior to 1963 held that this was the most probable explanation, though later editions have placed it in doubt. Image File history File linksMetadata Potosi_Real. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Potosi_Real. ... The Spanish dollar or peso (literally, weight) is a silver coin that was minted in the Spanish Empire after a Spanish currency reform in 1497. ...

Still another explanation holds that the dollar sign is derived from (or at least inspired by) the mint mark on Spanish colonial silver coins ("real" or "piece of eight") that were minted in Potosí (in present day Bolivia). The mint mark was composed of the letters "PTSI" superimposed on one another, and bears an undeniable resemblance to the single-stroke dollar sign (see picture). The Potosí mine is generally accepted as having been the largest single silver strike in history. Silver coins minted in Potosí would have been in common use in colonial America, and its mint mark widely recognized. Poorly documented explanations sustains that the symbol represents an snake, guarding a bag, and that it was used in Tironian notes. A mint mark is an inscription on a coin indicating the mint at which the coin was produced. ... The real was a unit of currency in Spain for several centuries. ... The Spanish dollar or peso (literally, weight) is a silver coin that was minted in the Spanish Empire after a Spanish currency reform in 1497. ... Potosí is a city, the capital of the department of Potosí in Bolivia. ... A nugget of silver Silver mining refers to the resource extraction of the precious metal element silver, mostly through mines. ... Tironian notes (notae Tironianae) is a system of shorthand invented by Ciceros scribe Marcus Tullius Tiro. ...

However, the dollar sign may have also originated from the Greek God of bankers, thieves, messengers, and tricksters: Hermes. Besides the crane, one of his symbols was a peeled hasel stick from which white ribbons dangled. Foolish people often mistook these for snakes. So, the vertical line (|) may be the hasel stick and the S may be the ribbons. Greek mythological characters (Most of the gods and goddesses had Roman equivalents. ... For other uses, see Hermes (disambiguation). ... Genera Grus Anthropoides Balearica Bugeranus Cranes are large, long-legged and long-necked birds of the order Gruiformes, and family Gruidae. ...

First cast dollar symbol

According to a plaque in the burgh of St Andrews in Scotland, the first dollar symbol was cast in a type-foundry in Philadelphia in 1797 that belonged to Scottish immigrant John Baine. John Baine had lodged in a house in South Street in St Andrews with Alexander Wilson, the father of Scottish type-founding. A sign in Linlithgow, Scotland. ... For other uses, see St Andrews (disambiguation). ... This article is about the country. ... For other uses, see Philadelphia (disambiguation) and Philly. ... Attila the Stockbroker (born John Baine, October 12, 1957 in Southwick, West Sussex, England) is a punk poet, folk punk musician and songwriter. ... Alexander Wilson (1714–1786) was a Scottish type-maker and punch-cutter. ...

The plaque on the bookshop on the corner of South Street and Church Street in St Andrews.

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2048x1536, 711 KB) [edit] Summary Plaque in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland reading: Here stood the house of Bailie Bell, who, before 1744, was an eager co-worker with Alexander Wilson, the father of Scottish type-founder, and John Baine, in whose... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2048x1536, 711 KB) [edit] Summary Plaque in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland reading: Here stood the house of Bailie Bell, who, before 1744, was an eager co-worker with Alexander Wilson, the father of Scottish type-founder, and John Baine, in whose...

Use in computer programming

As the dollar sign is one of the few symbols that is on the one hand almost universally present in computer character sets, but on the other hand rarely needed in its literal meaning within programming languages, the $ character has been used on computers for many purposes not related to money, including: A character encoding is a code that pairs a set of characters (such as an alphabet or syllabary) with a set of something else, such as numbers or electrical pulses. ... This article is about the machine. ...

• $ was used as a string terminator in CP/M and subsequently also in all versions of 86-DOS, PC-DOS, MS-DOS and derivatives (Int 21h with AH=09h)
• $ signifies the end of a line or the file in text editors ed, ex, vi and derivatives, and consequently:
• $ matches the end of a line or string in sed, grep, and POSIX and Perl regular expressions.
• $ was used to define string variables in older versions of the BASIC programming language ("$" was often pronounced "string" instead of "dollar" in this use).
• $ is used to define hexadecimal constants in Pascal-like languages such as Delphi, as well as in certain variants of assembly language.
• $ is used to define variables in the PHP programming language and scalar variables in the Perl programming language (see Sigil (computer programming)).
• In the AutoIt automation script language, any variable is required to have a $ at the beginning of its name.
• In most shell scripting languages, $ is used to interpolate environment variables, special variables, arithmetic computations and special characters, and to perform translation of localised strings.
• In UNIX-like systems the $ is often part of the command prompt, depending on the user's shell and environment settings. For example, the default environment settings for the bash shell specify $ as part of the command prompt.
• $ is used in the TeX typesetting language to delimit mathematical regions.
• $ is used by the prompt command in DOS to insert special sequences into the DOS command prompt string.
• Formulas in Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheets use $ to indicate an absolute cell reference.

CP/M is an operating system originally created for Intel 8080/85 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. ... 86-DOS was an operating system developed and marketed by Seattle Computer Products for its Intel 8086-based computer kit. ... IBM PC-DOS was one of the three major operating systems that dominated the personal computer market from about 1985 to 1995. ... Microsofts disk operating system, MS-DOS, was Microsofts implementation of DOS, which was the first popular operating system for the IBM PC, and until recently, was widely used on the PC compatible platform. ... ed was the original standard text editor on the Unix operating system. ... ex, short for EXtended, is a line editor for Unix systems. ... vi editing a temporary, empty file. ... The correct title of this article is . ... grep is a command line utility that was originally written for use with the Unix operating system. ... POSIX or Portable Operating System Interface[1] is the collective name of a family of related standards specified by the IEEE to define the application programming interface (API) for software compatible with variants of the Unix operating system. ... For other uses, see Perl (disambiguation). ... In computing, a regular expression is a string that is used to describe or match a set of strings, according to certain syntax rules. ... In computer programming and formal language theory, (and other branches of mathematics), a string is an ordered sequence of symbols. ... BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of high-level programming languages. ... Pascal is an imperative computer programming language, developed in 1970 by Niklaus Wirth as a language particularly suitable for structured programming. ... Delphi is the primary programming language of Borland Delphi. ... An assembly language is a low-level language for programming computers. ... In computer science and mathematics, a variable (pronounced ) (sometimes called an object or identifier in computer science) is a symbolic representation used to denote a quantity or expression. ... For other uses, see PHP (disambiguation). ... In computing, a scalar is a variable or field that can hold only one value at a time; as opposed to composite variables like array, list, record, etc. ... In computer science and mathematics, a variable (pronounced ) (sometimes called an object or identifier in computer science) is a symbolic representation used to denote a quantity or expression. ... For other uses, see Perl (disambiguation). ... In computer programming, a sigil is a symbol attached to a variable name, showing the variables datatype. ... AutoIt is a freeware Microsoft Windows automation language. ... A shell script is a script written for the shell, or command line interpreter, of an operating system. ... Environment variables are a set of dynamic values that can affect the way running processes will behave on a computer. ... Filiation of Unix and Unix-like systems Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®, sometimes also written as or ® with small caps) is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ... Command Prompt on Windows XP. A command prompt (or just prompt) is a character or string of characters used in a command line interface to indicate that the computer is ready to accept typed input. ... In computing, a shell is a piece of software that provides an interface for users (command line interpreter). ... This article is about the Unix shell. ... TeX (IPA: as in Greek, often in English; written with a lowercase e in imitation of the logo) is a typesetting system created by Donald Knuth. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... This article is about the family of closely related operating systems for the IBM PC compatible platform. ... Microsoft Excel (full name Microsoft Office Excel) is a spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. It features calculation and graphing tools which, along with aggressive marketing, have made Excel one of the most popular microcomputer applications to date. ... Screenshot of a spreadsheet under OpenOffice A spreadsheet is a rectangular table (or grid) of information, often financial information. ...

Currencies that use the dollar or peso sign

In addition to those countries of the world that use dollars or pesos, a number of other countries use the $ symbol to denote their currencies, including, but not limited, to: This article is about the type of currency, for the U.S. Dollar see United States dollar. ... The peso is a unit of currency. ...

• Nicaraguan córdoba
• Tongan pa'anga

Except the Philippine peso, whose sign is written as . ISO 4217 Code NIO User(s) Nicaragua Inflation 9. ... The paanga (or Tongan dollar) is the currency of the Kingdom of Tonga. ... ISO 4217 Code PHP User(s) Philippines Inflation 2. ... Image File history File links PhilippinePeso. ...

Some currencies use the cifrão , similar to the dollar sign, but always with two strokes: Cifrão on 2. ...

• Brazilian real
• Cape Verde escudo
• Chilean peso
• Portuguese escudo (defunct)

The cifrão is also currently used to account for over 130,000,000 domestic standard US Mint (1986+) bullion US silver dollars as one dollar per one troy ounce fine (99.9%), thereby avoiding confusion with debased US trade dollar-denominated tokens and Federal Reserve Notes. ISO 4217 Code BRL User(s) Brazil Inflation 3. ... The official currency of Cape Verde (Portuguese: Cabo Verde), a former Portuguese colony, is called Escudo. ... Chilean notes currently in circulation: 1,000; 2,000; 5,000; 10,000; 20,000 pesos The peso is the currency of Chile. ... The escudo was the official currency of Portugal prior to the introduction of the euro in 1 January 1999 (euro coins and notes were not introduced until 2002). ... The United States Mint is responsible for producing and circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce. ... The Federal Reserve System is headquartered in the Eccles Building on Constitution Avenue in Washington, DC. The Federal Reserve System (also the Federal Reserve; informally The Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. ...

See also

• Euro sign
• Pound sign

The euro (€; ISO 4217 code EUR) is the currency of twelve of the twenty-five nations that form the European Union (and four outside it, as well as Montenegro and Kosovo), which form the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). ... This article is about the currency symbol. ...

References